Friday, November 14, 2008

People who know me roll their eyes when I say that I am commitment phobic. I mean, I have a husband, a mortgage, two car payments, a kid, and a law degree, so it would seem that I am actually a commitaholic. But that's where looks are deceiving. I make bold decisions on impulse with long-lasting consequences and far-reaching impacts. But not commitments.

This is why I love vector-based illustration.

First, I don't draw well by hand. I can never get what's in my head out of my fingertips, mostly because I am such an uptight perfectionist that I am never willing to practice getting things wrong. And I hate the sight of my own handwriting unless I devote ridiculous quantities of time and energy to the task. This is where digital illustration comes in. Adobe Illustrator has freed me from the nagging permanence of hand drawings and opened up a world of infinite "undos" to me. I no longer fret about erasing embarrassing doodles or filling up my trash can with discarded fragments of ideas.

Of course, all this ephemera comes at a price. As has been recently discussed here, I love paper. I love fabric, too. I love tangible stuff. So, after wallowing in the endless possibilities of my digital canvass, I am always filled with a desire to make my ideas real, tangible. I wanna print something, right? Oh, if only ink and toner and paper weren't so darned expensive!! Every time I get near the printers, my husband takes a deep, brooding breath.

Now, after weeks of waffling and debating, I think I have finally settled on which two of my designs to have printed for my first Spoonflower order:

look familiar? yeah, i like gingkos. a lot.

i wanted an exaggerated fiber texture to be the foil to the crisporange background in the gingko pattern

I think I will buy fat quarters of each and make them into a small, single square cushion. Gingkos on front and back with the "burlap" as the sides, maybe tufted with covered buttons in the burlap fabric?

Of course, there's no where in my house where this will look good. But that's why I'm not committed to it.

3 comments:

interesting designs... I really like the colors and shapes. They compliment each other in my eyes. Yes computers and adobe, paint and photoshop have made it a bit easier to draw your works but I sitll love a good pencil to a paper.. maybe one day I can buy those tablets and pen that I can draw directly on it... that would be cool!... I think you're committed to be uncommitted

Oooh! I love the ginkgos--especially with the orange! I'd buy fabric like that! I'm currently working on some gingkos in antique linen and contemporary Irish linen. Just trying to decide how to embellish the piece. Found you on Spoonflower. Nice work!